Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Bible Story: Abigail (1 Samuel 25:1-43)




Today bible story that I am going to share happened before David become a king.

There was a beautiful and intelligent woman named Abigail. She had a husband who was very rich from the clan of Caleb named Nabal.  He owned a land near the town of Carmel. He had 3 thousand of sheeps and 1 thousand of goats. Nabal was a mean, bad-tempered man.

One day, Nabal was shearing his sheep in Carmel and David who was in the wilderness heard about it so he sent 10 young men to find Nabal and give him his greetings which states “David sends you greetings, my friend, with his best wishes for you, your family, and all that is yours. He heard that you were sheering your sheep and he wants you to know that your shepherds have been with us and we did not harm them. We have come on a feast day and David asks you to receive us kindly. Please give what you can to us your servants and to your dear friend David. ”

Nabal answered. David? Who is he? I’ve never heard of him! I’m not going to take my bread and water, and the animals I have butchered for my sheepshearers and give them to people who come from I don’t know where!”

David’s men told him what Nabal had said. David said to his 400 men-  Buckle on your swords.

One of Nabal’s servant told Abigail what happened and warned her that this could be disastrous to everyone. He was so mean and won’t listen to anybody.

Abigail quickly gathered 200 loaves of breads, two bags of full wine, 5 roasted sheeps, 2 bushels of roasted grain, 100 bunches of raisins, and 200 cakes of dried figs, loaded them on donkeys. She went along with her servants without saying anything to her husband.

In the journey, she suddenly met David and his men coming toward her. David had been thinking. “Why did I protect that fellow’s property out here in the wilderness? Not a thing that belong to him was stolen and this is how he pays me back for the help that I gave him! May God strike me dead if I don’t kill every last of those men before morning!”

When Abigail saw him, she threw herself on the ground at David’s feet and said to him - “Please sir, listen to me, Let me take the blame. Please don’t pay attention to Nabal, He is good for nothing. He is exactly what his name means – a fool. I wasn’t there when your servants arrived. It is the Lord who has kept you from taking revenge and killing your enemies. Please sir, accept this present I have brought you and give it to your men. Please forgive me sir for any wrong I have done.”

David said to her, “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel who sent you today to meet me. Thank God for your good sense and for what you have done today in keeping me from the crime of murder and from taking my own revenge. The Lord has kept me from harming you.”

David accepted what she had brought him and said to her “Go back home and don’t worry. I will do what you want.”

Abigail went back to Nabal who was at home having a feast fit for a king. He was drunk and in a good mood so she didn’t say anything until the next day. He suffered stroke and was completely paralyzed. Some ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died.

When David heard that Nabal had died, he said “Praise the Lord! He has taken revenge on Nabal for insulting me and has kept me his servant from doing wrong.”

Then David sent a marriage proposal to Abigail and they got married.

The lesson we can learn from this is that we need to help those who are in need. For God sees everything. What we sow is what we reap.  Have a wonderful day and God bless us all.


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